Multi-criteria Index Research Articles

Clinical Factors Related to Abnormal General Movements Trajectories: Development of a Multicriteria Index.

To create a multicriteria index with clinical factors associated with abnormal general movements (GMs) trajectories during a stay in the neonatal intensive care unit. A longitudinal study assessed abnormal GMs trajectories in preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. The multicriteria index included clinical factors such as intraventricular hemorrhage, respiratory support, gestational age, patent ductus arteriosus, and infection based on multi-attribute utility theory. A total of 52 preterm newborns, 57.7% male, were evaluated. The multicriteria index correlated with abnormal GMs trajectories and explained 26.5% of the variance in these trajectories. The developed multicriteria index, with the inclusion of combined clinical factors, allowed the identification of part of the abnormal trajectories of GMs in preterm infants. The multicriteria analysis can help clinicians to identify infants who have a greater chance of poor developmental trajectories before hospital discharge.

Commentary on "Clinical Factors Related to Abnormal General Movements Trajectories: Development of a Multicriteria Index".

Commentary on "Clinical Factors Related to Abnormal General Movements Trajectories: Development of a Multicriteria Index".

Vulnerability caused by the lack of sanitation in slums of the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This study used a multi-criteria index to assess vulnerability due to lack of sanitation at the microscale of the territory of Complexo do Alemão slums, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, comparing different microareas and establishing which of them need priority public action and which have less sanitary risk. The index was built using the method developed by the Jones dos Santos Neves Research and Development Support Institute to score the indicators and determine the comparative aspects in the Complexo do Alemão slums, using comparative spatial analysis. This methodology made it possible to assess that within a territory considered vulnerable in terms of sanitation, there are regions that are more fragile due to basic sanitation problems, and that this data is correlated with socio-economically more unfavorable areas, making it possible to structure the assessment of this type of vulnerability. On average, the partial index of lack of access to water was 0.34, the partial index of sewage collection was 0.28 and the glocal index was 0.31, classifying the Complexo do Alemão slums in the extreme lack range. This approach corroborated the validation of the sanitation deprivation index with information on the territorial scale of communities faced with the risk caused by unequal access to the human right to sanitation.

Fractional order for Multi-criteria Control Performance Assessment

This paper presents an alternative way to do control performance assessment (CPA). The task to measure controller quality has to meet contradictory goals. Generally, the tuning of any controller means reaching a compromise between the accuracy and speed. The demanded ratio between them depends on the process requirements, technological limitations and just the engineering skills. Two fundamental indexes, like the overshoot and settling time fit perfectly into the picture. Considered investigations follow this research path, but with the use of modern measures: L-moments, tail index and ARFIMA filter fractional order estimator. The assessment uses two dimensional Index Ratio Diagrams (IRD), which allow to present and compare contradictory measures in a single diagram. They also allow to define new multi-criteria index able to compare different loops. The validation is compared against commonly used integral measures: means square and absolute errors.

Mapping potentially groundwater-dependent vegetation in the Mediterranean biome using global geodata targeting site conditions and vegetation characteristics

Groundwater-dependent vegetation (GDV) is essential for maintaining ecosystem functions and services, providing critical habitat for species, and sustaining human livelihoods. However, climate and land-use change are threatening GDV, highlighting the need for harmonised, global mapping of the distribution and extent of GDV. This need is particularly crucial in vulnerable biodiversity hotspots such as the Mediterranean biome. This study presents a novel multicriteria index to identify areas in the Mediterranean biome that provide suitable environmental conditions to support potentially groundwater-dependent vegetation (pGDV) where vegetation behaviour is also indicative of groundwater use. Global datasets targeting 1) groundwater vegetation interaction; 2) soil water holding capacity; 3) topographical landscape wetness potential; 4) land use land cover and 5) hydraulic conductivity of rocks have been combined for the first time in an easy-to-use index. Layer weightings from Analytical Hierarchy Process and Random Forest showed limited applicability on biome scale, but an unweighted overlay of eleven thematic layers produced plausible results. The final pGDV map indicates that 31 % of the natural vegetation in the Mediterranean biome likely depend on groundwater. Moreover, moderate to good agreement was found compared to actual GDV locations in Campania, Italy (91 % with at least moderate potential) and California, USA (87 % with at least moderate potential). The results provide valuable information for identifying regions with a substantial presence of pGDV in the Mediterranean biome and can be used for decision making, e.g. to prioritise field surveys and high-resolution remote sensing for GDV mapping. It can therefore support effective groundwater resource management and the conservation of biodiversity hotspots.

Review on Urban Flood Risk Assessment

Under the background of rapid urban development and continuous climate change, frequent floods around the world have caused serious economic losses and social problems, which has become the main reason for the sustainable development of cities. Flood disaster risk assessment is an important non-engineering measure in urban disaster prevention and mitigation, and scientific flood disaster risk assessment is the premise and foundation of flood disaster risk management. This paper summarizes the current situation of flood risk assessment by analyzing the international literature in recent 20 years. The mechanism of flood disaster is mainly discussed. The flood disaster assessment methods are summarized, including historical disaster statistics method, multi-criteria index system method, remote sensing and GIS (Geographic Information System) coupling method, scenario simulation evaluation method and machine learning method. Furthermore, the development status of flood risk analysis and forecasting is summarized. Finally, the development trend and direction of flood risk assessment are put forward.

Environmental opportunities facilitating cognitive development in preschoolers: development of a multicriteria index.

Access to environmental opportunities can favor children's learning and cognitive development. The objectives is to construct an index that synthesizes environmental learning opportunities for preschoolers considering the home environment and verify whether the index can predict preschoolers' cognitive development. A quantitative, cross-sectional, exploratory study was conducted with 51 preschoolers using a multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT). The criteria used for drawing up the index were supported by the literature and subdivided in Group A "Resources from the house" extracted from HOME Inventory including: (1) to have three or more puzzles; (2) have at least ten children's books; (3) be encouraged to learn the alphabet; (4) take the family out at least every 2 weeks. Group B "Screens" (5) caution with using television; (6) total screen time in day/minutes. Group C "Parental Schooling" (7) maternal and paternal education. Pearson correlation analyses and univariate linear regression were performed to verify the relationship between the established index with cognitive test results. The index correlated with the total score of the mini-mental state exam (MMC) and verbal fluency test (VF) in the category of total word production and word production without errors. Multicriteria index explained 18% of the VF (total word production), 19% of the VF (total production of words without errors) and 17% of the MMC. The present multicriteria index has potential application as it synthesizes the preschooler's environmental learning opportunities and predicts domains of child cognitive development.

Flood hazard and susceptibility assessment in a semi-arid environment: A case study of Seyad basin, south of Morocco

Flood, is a constant phenomenon, especially in semi-arid and flood plain regions are one of the most destructive natural hazards endangering a people's life, property, and physical and economic well-being. This paper focuses on hydraulic modelling using the HEC-RAS model in combination with the Watershed Modeling System (WMS) tools and compares the results to the Flood Hazard Index (FHI) method using GIS in the Seyad Basin situated in the southwestern region of Morocco with an area of 1512.85 km2. The goal of the study is to evaluate flood hazards in the Seyad Basin in which the cities of Taghjijt, Aday, Amtoudi, and Tagriante are located. The HEC-RAS approach combines the hydraulic surface water flow model and the digital terrain model data. This combination allows the mapping of the flood zones by using the WMS tools. This approach predicts flood occurrence probability for different times and determines the intensity of the flood (depth and velocity of floodwater) using the existing hydrological data.On the other hand, the Flood Hazard Index method (FHI) presents a multi-criteria index to assess areas prone to flood hazards, using six physical parameters: permeability, slope, distance from rivers, land use, drainage density, and flow accumulation. A weight is calculated from the analytic hierarchy process method and applied to each parameter. HEC-RAS method allows the mapping of a flood with a flood water surface profile that shows the flood depth for Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP). At the same time, FHI permits establishing flood hazard levels without showing the water depth. In both approaches, six simulations were performed with the return periods of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 years. The simulation revealed that the most susceptible areas to flooding are the areas along the Wadi Seyad.

Evidence-Based Planning: A Multi-Criteria Index for Identifying Vacant Properties in Large Urban Centres

Attempts to avoid property vacancy represent an immense challenge for local authorities and planning policy design. Despite recent normative and regulatory advances witnessed in the recent past with the recognition of the social function of the property by the federal constitution (1988) and statutory instruments included in the city statute (2001) and local master plans, Brazilian cities still experience difficulty in producing evidence-based indicators to support the implementation of progressive planning policies. This article offers a methodological approach using a multi-criteria index to identify vacancy propensity levels in the central area of São Paulo. The research results from a partnership between the municipal authority and two planning laboratories from public universities and financial support from UNESCO. The index was designed using a multi-criteria decision aid technique, PROMETHEE II. The proposed methodology involved the manipulation of eight variables related to the vacancy phenomenon and a two-phased validation process: one quantitative using statistical tests and the second qualitative through the scrutiny of the index by urban specialists. The result represents the potential vacancy levels for 3,254 urban blocks and their spatial distribution. For the 344 blocks inspected through fieldwork, 619 potential vacant properties were identified. The development and analysis of the index show that this approach provides valuable information on vacancy levels accounting for its spatial distribution. The index is a flexible tool that can absorb particular local conditions and support evidence-based policy-making.

A Framework for Assessing the Readiness and Vulnerability of the Romanian Territories Affected by the Just Transition Process

Abstract The paper consists of an exploratory study which seeks to build a multi-criteria index to assess the vulnerability and the readiness of regions affected by the energy transition, based on data collected from six Romanian affected regions (Dolj, Gorj, Hunedoara, Mureș, Galați and Prahova). Literature points out both the distributional and the procedural dimension of the just energy transition process, emphasizing that the current energy transition process is distinct from previous ones due to the complex actors constellation and to the policy planning behind it. The current research is a first attempt to use various socio-economic and demographic indicators towards developing composite indexes that allow for a better understanding of the just transition processes across Europe, testing enablers and disablers of a successful transition process. The exploratory study examines two premises: that coal regions are more vulnerable than emissionsintensive regions which are not relying on coal and that the readiness of regions to embark on a transition process is directly proportional to their average GDP/ capita. I use several indicators as proxies to assess the vulnerability level (unemployment, GDP/ capita, the average monthly salary, the technological intensity of the local economies, the share of the workforce employed in industry) and others to assess the readiness level (the share of employees in transition-affected large enterprises in the total share of employees, the level of interest and engagement of local stakeholders, EU funds absorption capacity at local level). Data analysis shows surprisingly high variance of the same indicator between affected regions and unexpected correlations, such as a negative correlation between regional wealth and local authorities’ capacity to attract EU funds. It also underlines the need for a larger number of cases and more indicators in the index, to make the results statistically significant and to compensate for the high variance among indicators.

Physical environmental opportunities for active play and physical activity level in preschoolers: a multicriteria analysis

BackgroundActive play opportunities seems to influence the level of physical activity during childhood. However, a gap remains about which environmental opportunities including the daycare physical environment could have a positive impact on the level of physical activity in preschoolers.Objectives(1) To develop an index to measure the environmental opportunities of free active play for preschoolers of middle-income countries; (2) to check the relationship and contribution of the index to explain objectively the level of physical activity.MethodsA quantitative, cross-sectional, exploratory study with 51 preschool children. The established criteria for the index according to the literature were: (1) Outdoor time on typical days of the week. (2) Outdoor time on a typical weekend day. (3) The presence of internal space and external environment in the child’s home that allows playing. (4) Presence of patio with space for games at the school. (5) Presence of a playground with a toy at the school. We applied multi-attribute utility theory for the determination of the multicriteria index of physical environmental opportunities. Pearson’s correlation analysis and simple linear regression were used to verify the association between the index and the physical activity level.ResultsThe index showed a positive correlation with the level of physical activity, e.g., the average time of MVPA (r = 0.408, p = 0.003). The univariate linear regression demonstrated that the quality of physical environmental opportunities for physical activity explained 20% of the preschooler’s classification as active and 16% of the time in moderate to vigorous physical activity (p < 0.001).ConclusionPhysical environmental opportunities for active play have a positive effect on physical activity in preschoolers and should be encouraged in different social segments.

Water dynamics and blue-green infrastructure (BGI): Towards risk management and strategic spatial planning guidelines

This work aims to demonstrate the importance of concretely defining blue-green infrastructure (BGI) in non-consolidated urban areas as an active element to achieve integrated risk management and strategic spatial planning guidelines to structure future urban development. BGI is seen as a city's structuring element more than an element integrated into a city. For this, a method is proposed and a demonstration of its application is conducted for the city of Paraty, in Brazil. It starts with a diagnosis of the current situation, maps the conflicts experienced by the city regarding water dynamics, and establishes cause-effect relations. Then, the past reference situation and the future trend situation are evaluated, and, with lessons learned, a future urban occupation alternative is defined, using BGI and river restoration approaches. Finally, the two future situations are compared in terms of environmental enhancement. The analyses are supported by mathematical modelling and a multicriteria index (Urban River Restoration Index). The results indicate that the future trend situation worsens flood risks, while the BGI proposal reduces them, besides improving the watersheds environmental quality and setting strategic spatial planning guidelines. Thus, understanding the role of water in a city is crucial to define a BGI approach focused on delivering urban water management solutions and strategically structuring future urban development, being the water a structural part of the city itself.

Constructed Wetlands in South Korea: Current Status and Performance Assessment

The efficiency of nature-based facilities is mostly evaluated in terms of their pollutant removal capabilities; however, apart from water purification functions, constructed wetlands also perform ecological, cultural, and environmental education functions. A multi-criteria performance index was developed in this study to evaluate the overall efficiency of constructed wetlands. A total of 54 constructed wetlands installed across South Korea were monitored to evaluate the pollutant removal performance of the facilities. A comparison between the conventional pollutant removal-based evaluation and the developed multi-criteria index was also performed to determine the key changes in the results of evaluation when different methods are employed. Among the different types of wetlands studied, hybrid systems were found to be the most effective in terms of pollutant removal due to their complex configurations and functions. Newly constructed treatment wetlands have unstable performance and thus, a stabilization period ranging from two to five years is required to assess the facility’s pollutant removal capabilities. As compared to the conventional pollutant removal-based efficiency evaluation, the comprehensive evaluation method provided a more strategic tool for identifying the facilities’ strengths and weaknesses. Generally, the multi-criteria performance index developed in this inquiry can be utilized as a general tool for evaluating the sustainability of similar nature-based facilities.

HOW TO OBTAIN A GLOBAL REFERENCE THRESHOLD IN AHP/ANP

This paper has two main objectives. The first objective is to provide a mathematically grounded technique to construct local and global thresholds using the well-known rate of change method. The next objective, which is secondary, is to show the relevance and possibilities of applying the AHP/ANP in absolute measurement (AM) compared to the relative measurement (RM) mode, which is currently widely used in the AHP/ANP community. The ability to construct a global threshold would help increase the use of AHP/ANP in the AM mode (rating mode) in the AHP/ANP community. Therefore, if the first specific objective is achieved, it would facilitate reaching the second, more general objective. For this purpose, a real-life example based on the construction of a multi-criteria index and threshold will be described. The index measures the degree of lag of a neighborhood through the Urban and Social Deterioration Index (USDI) based on an AHP risks model. The global threshold represents the tolerable lag value for the specific neighborhood. The difference or gap between the neighborhood’s current status (actual USDI value) and this threshold represents the level of neighborhood deterioration that must be addressed to close the gap from a social and urban standpoint. The global threshold value is a composition of 45 terminal criteria with their own local threshold that must be evaluated for the specific neighborhood. This example is the most recent in a large list of AHP applications in AM mode in vastly different decision making fields, such as risk disaster assessment, environmental assessment, the problem of medical diagnoses, social responsibility problems, BOCR analysis for the evolution of nuclear energy in Chile in the next 20 years and many others. (See list of projects in Appendix).

A GIS-Based Multicriteria Index to Evaluate the Mechanisability Potential of Italian Vineyard Area

Planting criteria of new vineyards should comply with rational and sustainable criteria, taking into account the potential mechanisability of existing viticultural areas. However, an established methodology for this assessment is still lacking. This study aimed at analysing the parameters which influence the vineyard mechanisability, with the objective to propose a new mechanisability index. The mechanisability index proposed was based on GIS-analysis of landscape and management parameters such as mean slope, shape of the vineyard block, length-width ratio, headland size, training system and row spacing. We identified a sample of 3686 vineyards in Italy. Based on the above-mentioned parameters, vineyards were categorised by their level of mechanisability (l.m.) into four classes. Moreover, we analysed the correlation between l.m. and economic indicators (area planted with vineyard and wine production). Results showed that the main factors limiting the mechanisability potential of some Italian regions are the elevated slopes, horizontal training systems and narrow vine spacings. The l.m. showed a moderate positive correlation with the size of vineyards and the volume and value of production. The methodology presented in this study may be easily applied to other viticultural areas around the world, serving as a management decision-making tool.

Quality of interactive media use in early childhood and child development: a multicriteria analysis

Objectives(1) To develop an index that allows the measurement of the quality of interactive media used by children in early childhood. (2) To verify whether there is an association between the index and cognitive development, expressive language, and fine and gross motor development. MethodsA quantitative, cross‐sectional, exploratory study with 103 children, aged 24 to 42 months, evaluated by the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development. The criteria for the index were selected from the literature: (1) media use by parents; (2) time of daily media use; (3) media type; (4) what do you use the media for; (5) who do you use the media with (6) monitoring (limits time, content, interacts during use); (7) purpose of use; (8) parents’ opinion of the media. For development of the multicriteria index, the multi‐attribute utility theory was applied, and Spearman correlation and simple linear regression (p<0.05) were used to verify the association between the index and child development. ResultsThe index showed a positive and significant correlation with child development in the following domains: language (r=0.40, p<0.001), cognitive (r=0.23, p=0.04), and fine motor=0.22, p=0.04). Simple linear regression analysis showed that the use of interactive media accounts for 22% of language development (p<0.001). ConclusionThe multicriteria index developed to verify the quality of interactive media used by children in early childhood showed that it has the potential to be used. The positive and significant associations between the quality of interactive media use and child development was verified, mainly regarding language.

Poverty in the Russian Federation: possibilities and specifics of the use of the AROPE multi-criteria index in the poverty monitoring system of the Russian Federation

The article presents a comparative analysis of the level and structure of poverty of the Russian population using two different concepts of poverty definition — the absolute income criterion currently used by Rosstat, and the AROPE indicator of poverty and social exclusion. The paper also attempts to assess how the change of the methodology for determining poverty can affect the existence of the poverty status of individuals. The study is carried out both at a national level and at a federal district level. The empirical basis of the paper is selective observation of income of the population and participation in social programmes, conducted by Rosstat in 2017.The results show that in transition from the absolute income criterion to the multi-criteria AROPE index, the poverty level of the population of the Russian Federation significantly increases. The highest growth of poverty is among people over working age. The age structure of poverty also changes significantly. With AROPE, the proportion of older persons among the poor increases and the proportion of children decreases. It is also shown in the article that the transition from the current official methodology of poverty definition to the definition in accordance with AROPE’s methodology can lead to loss of the poverty status by part of the population, which, in case of the official transition to using AROPE index as a criterion for receiving social support, can have a negative impact on their socio-economic situation. The obtained results vary significantly by federal districts of the Russian Federation.

Large-scale flood hazard assessment under climate change: A case study

Climate change represents a set of mechanisms that result in significant impacts toward hydrologic processes both at global and regional scales and usually they are developing countries where face the most challenging consequences. For instance, arid and semi-arid environments experience a high level of uncertainty in rainfall, which results in unforeseen periods of droughts, or high-intensity rainfall, which generates severe floods, increasing the water insecurity and flood damage in these areas. Climate pattern variations are specifically critical to forecast conditions for flood hazard management. General Circulation Models (GCMs) are useful tools to forecast future climate change scenarios. However, the application of GCM in flood hazard management is particularly challenging, given that they operate under high uncertainty and coarse scale. In this context, a five-class Flood Hazard Index (FHI) map was generated by using a multi criteria index approach, based on defining the greater influence of seven factors related to flood generation: runoff coefficient, elevation, slope, distance from the drainage network, rainfall intensity, soil erosion and land use. In this paper, we utilized monthly data for the baseline period (1980–2004), and then the output of 8 GCMs for surface air temperature (SAT) and precipitation were downscaled using a statistical model and evaluated in the baseline period. Consequently, the most suitable models were selected according to their average monthly performance. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was then used to develop a runoff coefficient map, using the downscaled outputs of the selected GCMs. Accordingly, a flood hazard model was developed at a large basin in the northeast of Iran for baseline and future periods (2040–2064) under RCP 8.5 emission scenarios. Having validated the generated flood map for the baseline period, the future maps were generated and compared. Results show the increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation; however, it was found that rainfall intensities are to be increased. This supports the final flood hazard map for the future climate conditions scenario with an increased relative hazard level. This was particularly observed in flat, and moderate sloped areas, compared to the model results with historic climate data.

A data-driven business intelligence system for large-scale semi-automated logistics facilities

With the proliferation of e-commerce, the regional hub of a large-scale logistics company is required to sort and load a large number of packages into different delivery vehicles by dawn and deliver them to customers by noon on a daily basis. The efficiency of the sorting operation is thus a competitive advantage which directly impacts the company's service level. In this study, a data-driven business intelligence system for the semi-automated sorting facility is proposed for real-world implementation. To determine the cargo handling sequence, an information-based approach with a multi-criteria index function is developed. Then a simulation-based optimisation framework, which integrates a multi-objective search algorithm with a simulation model, is employed to fine-tune the parameters of the index function to perform optimally. The results of the numerical experiment show that the proposed technique is able to reduce 20% of the sorting operation duration, which equals a reduction of about 3600 man-hours per year. The study is a good example of applying emerging technologies in the logistics industry.

Mapping the flood risk to Socioeconomic Recovery Capacity through a multicriteria index

Flood risk is generally composed of two parts: the probability of happening a hazardous event and its consequences. The first part is the source of risk and it is mainly given by the flooding magnitudes, although flow velocities and flooding permanence may play important roles. The second one reflects the vulnerability of the socioeconomic system exposed to flooding. Three aspects can represent vulnerability: exposure, susceptibility and value. Additionally, resilience can work to diminish vulnerability, incorporating the system responsive capacity. However, it is usual that risk assessment considers only the direct damage of flooding, tending to prioritize areas with high potential losses using an economic-based approach. This approach can exclude socioeconomically vulnerable communities from receiving proper attention and consequent investments in flooding mitigation measures. In this context, this paper presents an index to measure the Socioeconomic Recovery Capacity of urban areas prone to flooding through a multi-criteria approach, contributing to knowledge by introducing a social bias into flood risk discussion. The Flood Risk to Socioeconomic Recovery Capacity Index (Ri-SoRCI) considers the relative potential damage of flooding events, based on the capacity of the affected inhabitants to recover from losses. The Ri-SoRCI represents a socioeconomic parcel of the flood risk, through two indicators. The first represents the economic recovery capacity of an impacted region. The second indicates the region’s social vulnerability. The Ri-SoRCI was applied to the Canal do Mangue basin, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, supported by an environmental modeling tool able to simulate flooding phenomena with an integrated approach. The result shows the risk variation for different areas, from the socioeconomic point of view, subsidizing decision-making for public investments and allowing the construction of sustainability indicators to assess multiple scenarios. The case study validated the proposed index.